What Makes A Church School Distinctive?

 

 

BIBLICAL  
The Lord's Prayer The school’s values are based on the teachings of Jesus as found in the Bible – focusing on 18 core values (Friendship, Thankfulness, Trust, Forgiveness, Justice, Compassion, Truth, Hope, Peace, Humility, Courage, Creativity, Generosity, Reverence and Respect, Wisdom, Perseverance, Service, and Responsibility).  Through Collective Worship and R.E. teaching, children will learn about the life and teachings of Jesus, and how these affect the lives of those who follow them. They will find out what the Bible means to Christians, and reflect on what it means to them.

 

LITURGICAL PATTERN
The Collective Worship times are structured to follow the ‘liturgy’ or pattern of Church of England services. The four elements are Gathering, Engaging, Responding and Sending, and bring the school community together in a time of reflection and celebration with messages from the Bible, prayer and reflection time and singing. We greet each other with phrases such as ‘The Peace of the Lord be with you/ and also with you’ to familiarise the children with language and form they might here in a church setting.

 

SEASONAL  
Seasons

The school follows the Church of England calendar of events including: Harvest, Christmas, Easter, Epiphany, Pentecost, Lent, Ascension Day and Patron Saints feast days.

We celebrate Epiphany in January. The Feast of Epiphany marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas and celebrates the visit of the Wise Men to the baby Jesus. These men, often called Kings or Magi, brought valuable gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to honour the baby.

Gold was a precious and expensive gift, and showed how important Jesus was. Frankincense is a sweet perfume which was often burned in the temple to worship God. It was a sign that Jesus should be worshipped. Myrrh was used to keep things fresh, and it was used by the women to anoint Jesus’ body when he died. By bringing it as a gift to Jesus, the wise men foretold his suffering and death.

 

SYMBOLIC
Symbols are an important visual aid to reflecting on our core values. You will see crosses and other Christian symbols at key places around the school building.

 

ECUMENICAL  
food-bank Great Finborough Church Primary School aims to work together with a range of local churches, including the Salvation Army Church. We also donate our Harvest food donations to the Stowmarket Food Bank to be distributed in the local community.

 

 DIVERSE
The Anglican Church is diverse and world-wide and is a fantastic vehicle for exploring Global Links. At Great Finborough, children will have a chance to explore what it means to be a Christian in different countries, cultures and contexts through projects such as the Kagera project.